Genealogy has helped me understand, appreciate, and remember historical events. It was the one tether that I could grasp, and it has pulled me toward the grand panorama of human history. It is pretty hard to understand how short a decade really is until you have lived a few of them.

I was really curious about what it would be like to live through an entire century, and in 2000, I, like all of you, was able to experience the transition to a new millennium. Yet many of our ancestors lived out their entire lives in only two or three decades. One-third to one-half of all their children died of childhood diseases, accidents, and starvation. Each story, when understood against its environmental background, is unique and valuable.

Because certain periods in time are naturally divided by historical events, this lesson will focus on how some events impacted so heavily on your ancestors that it caused the permanent break-up in extended families, the movement to unknown parts of the world, and the strengthening of other families when persecution prevailed upon them. This is the moral substance of which family heroes are made and mentioned in family folklore.

To begin today's lesson, you may need to refer to the answers you prepared in the "Your Turn" assignments in the text. You were asked what you really knew about your ancestors, and we began with questions about your ancestor's locality. To do genealogy research well, you must first understand the political jurisdiction(s) under which your ancestor lived.